Non-volatile memory devices such as flash memory is in increasing demand with an increase of applications that handle a large volume of data such as image or moving image in a mobile device or the like. A flash memory device stores information in numerous memory cells
There is a problem with a highly integrated flash memory containing much smaller cells that interference between adjacent cells spreads the width of the threshold voltage distribution. For example, during programming process, interference between the memory cells may occur due to capacitive coupling between nearby cells. For Single-Level Cell (SLC) memory or Multi-Level Cell (MLC) memory, the interference problem may decrease the sensing window and cause worse data retention.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a technology for reducing the interference between memory cells.